It was December of 1972, my grandparents were staying with us for an extended period of time because of medical issues with my grandfather. Newly engaged at the ripe old age of 18 my grandfather handed me $50.00 and said go pick out a china pattern.

The plan for the day was lunch with the girlfriends who were back from the then University of Nebraska in Lincoln for Christmas break. We had a brand new area of Omaha to explore called the Old Market.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Old Market in Omaha it was the epicenter of life in the late 19th Century. A prime railroad center that connected the settled east coast with the wide open west. It was the place where you could come and buy produce, and almost anything else. This is the wholesale warehouse district in the city and a place where deals were made, and goods were brought in and sold.

With westward expansion of the city by the 1950’s and a major change in the way we bought groceries and everything else the old market area became obsolete. In the 1960’s faced with building condemnation notices, Sam Mercer proposed to the city that he rescue his families red brick warehouses by renovating them for something new. Just southeast of downtown Omaha it seemed a prime spot for reinvention. By 1968 Mercer began collecting these old warehouses. It was his idea to use ground floor space for storefronts and restaurants and upper floors for apartments. By 1970 the first stores and restaurants were open. By 1972 it had turned into the hot spot and the place to see and be seen. I am happy to say it still one of Omaha’a top 10 destination with home grown businesses.

Feeling very grown up we hit a new restaurant for lunch in one of the underground spots in the Old Market. I can’t remember the name of it, after all it has been 51 years and of course it is no longer there but, I still have the images of us sitting around that table and the atmosphere was old, sublime, and oh so grown up.

I told my friends about my gift from Grandpa and that I needed to go to Brandeis and pick out a china pattern. Well, back in the day locally owned Brandeis was our Nordstroms and the very finest that Omaha had to offer. Their flagship store was downtown only a small distance from where we currently were. Everyone liked Brandeis particularly downtown at Christmas time. Remember when department stores used to decorate store windows? We entered with all it’s Christmas finery and hopped on the escalator. While descending I was watching as the china department came into view. On the very back wall I saw “my” dishes.

No I had never seen them before but, I knew they were mine. Even though they were a great distance from the escalator I somehow knew they were special. I never was the fancy bone china type with beautiful borders and interesting cartouche in the center. Gilded edges, nope not for me! I loved the colors in these dishes and upon approaching I just became more enchanted. Deep wine red flowers in a gold basket with a bird on a cream ground with a scalloped edge. Yes please. The nice sales person approached me and asked if she could help, of course I said I would like to see these dishes. She took one off the shelf and handed it to me. I turned it over and read the mark Wedgewood and the pattern was Williamsburg Potpourri. I asked her how much and she told me 25.00 for a 5 piece place setting. I’ll take two. I never looked at another pattern and never once regretted that investment. These dishes have been in the background of everything I have done in my home for 50 years!

In deciding on what to do for my Easter table I decided to use the wedding china, mixed with my moms Wedgewood Creamware. I had a piece of purple linen that I had bought last year with the intent of making napkins for these dishes for something different. I never got around to it last year and used different dishes for Easter so the purple linen has been sitting in my stash for a while. I was very enthusiastic about making these napkins and went to my computer and my OESD embroidery site to download the perfect floral for the napkins. I followed that up with a trip to the fabric store for thread to pull all those yummy colors out of the plate. I downloaded my design and marched downstairs with USB stick in hand and I couldn’t get the sewing machine and the USB stick to talk to each other. After multiple attempts I gave up and decided to do a less complicated embroidery design that was already in my machine.

After completing a couple of the napkins I decide to make a trip into the Bernina Store to check out a couple of things and told them about my problem. After talking to the technician he suggested that I might need a software update. Of course I didn’t have the machine with me so I picked up what I needed and went on my way. Carrying on, the rustic embroidered napkin was born. I will write a tutorial on the napkin this week. But today is about Easter.

Having a vague idea about how I wanted the table to look I started shopping my house. I had enough of the purple left over to make a narrow runner but after completing the napkins I was concerned that might be too much. I used a damask throw folded for a runner. I added my wooden pedestal to the center and started layering in the Easter.

I kept it fairly simple and then decided I needed chargers. Being lazy I used what was handy which was the infamous Mackenzie Childs. They’re always handy! Then I sprinkled in some wooden checkers across the table like confetti! I started with antique dominos but found the size of the checkers to be better. I don’t know how I feel about Courtly Check chargers but here they are. I do like the way they keep everything from being too precious and adding the bit of black from the checkers helped to reinforce the black accent.

The husband made the comment last night that the napkins were going to be too big for the mice who were dining at the table.

This is a standing joke for incomplete projects. If I leave the sewing machine on downstairs and the tv on and come upstairs the mice are watching tv. Well I wonder now if he knew something I didn’t know.

My grandson has strep throat and an ear infection. Easter is cancelled!!! Well family dinner anyway. Poor thing, I feel so bad for him.

I hope your Easter is filled with lasting gifts and distant memories.

Thanks for stopping

Shelley